Trey Songz, Monica bring their R&B to Mobile Civic Center

The pairing of Trey Songz and Monica on the "Passion, Pain & Pleasure" tour doesn’t necessarily seem like an obvious match.

The two artists, who’ll hit the Mobile Civic Center Theatre Friday night, have had substantially different runs.

Songz, 25, broke out in 2005 with a series of albums that shot up both the R&B and pop charts. He’s unabashedly emphasized the sexy side of R&B; his 2009 album "Ready" sports song titles such as "I Invented Sex," "Ready to Make Luv," "Yo Side of the Bed" and "Neighbors Know My Name." Comparisons to R. Kelly have not been in short supply, at least where the music is concerned.

Monica is only four years older on paper, but seems from another generation in terms of maturity. When she broke out in 1995, she was only in her mid-teens. Since then, she’s evolved into a singer whose messages are more about love, inner strength and empowerment.

And yet, as they talk, it becomes clear that there is common ground. Both believe in the power of R&B, a genre that, ten years ago, seemed in danger of being made obsolete by hip-hop.

"It’s very sensual," Songz said of music from the album he’ll release next month, the one from which the tour takes its name. "It’s very much vulnerable music as well as fun music."

"I’m excited because I think that Trey and I both believe so strongly in R&B music, and in what it brings, the feeling that it brings," Monica said. "We centered the tour around that. We went into rehearsals almost two weeks ago and just prepared the band and the background singers and the dancers and everybody to take it back to the old idea of how R&B was."

"And it’s just been a great feeling to be a part of that, being that my first album dropped in ’95," she said. "It’s just a blessing to still be around in 2010."

"People are experiencing so many things right now," she said. "Hip-hop is definitely a dominant force in music and always will be. My first record, ‘Just One of Them Days,’ was over ‘Backseat of My Jeep’ by LL Cool J. So we merged the two together quite often, but R&B gives you sometimes a feeling of peace. Sometimes we describe exactly the kind of hurt in relationships ... it’s a very descriptive form of music."

Songz’ music may be too sexed-up for some tastes, but give him credit for not plunging into the Auto-Tune fad of recent years, which had singer after singer sounding like tipsy robots.

"I feel, with the electric manipulation of the vocals, it leaves less room for the actual texture of the voice," Songz said. "With so many different people doing it, because it was the trend and it was getting radio play and it was the cool thing to do, I wanted to stay away from it and remain original."

The tour, which starts in Mobile, doesn’t want for new music. Monica released "Still Standing," her first album in nearly four years, in March. Songz said he’ll be sharing material from the set he’ll be releasing next month.

"I’m definitely going to give away a portion of that music," he said. "I want people to hear it, and I’ll be trying it out with you down in Mobile."

Monica said she’s looking forward to her first real tour since the ’90s.

"I get a chance to go further back into my history than I normally do," she said. "I go to the very beginning and work my way through all five albums and do songs that I haven’t normally performed over the last couple of years."

"It’s been pretty interesting, in rehearsals, it’s been good, because the music feels fresh to me, because there are songs that I haven’t performed in years. And then there are songs that I’ve never performed that I found out through my Twitter that people really wanted to hear. For instance, like ‘Superman,’ that’s on my latest album but is not a single."

It turns out, she’s an active proponent of social media that let her interact with fans.

"I keep my ear to the fans a lot more than most people do," she said. "Just being able to log on and see how they feel every day, it gives me a bit more of an edge when I’m putting together shows and videos and things that are real important."

There’s a lot of crossover between her fan base and Songz’, she said.

"Of course the ladies don’t come because they want me," she said. "They come because they want him. But they come see me because they want the story. Because I’ve been through a lot of the things they’ve been through.

"They known I’m not afraid to share. I’m not afraid to talk about being hurt. I’m a single mother of two small children, 2 years old and 4, so the things that I go through on a daily basis, most women in America do.

"I think it’s better for people to have some artists that they recognize are not just artists. I always say that I am not a machine. You don’t plug me into a wall and I function. Real life is happening to me every single day. So I share so that people recognize that artists, we’re human beings too. We just have a different job."

That job? Putting people at ease.

"With every show I receive a blessing. It’s a night shared with my fans," Songz said. "We enjoy one another. It’s a moment to remember."

"It is definitely an R&B experience," Monica said. "It’ll be fun for just the girls to come hang out, and it’ll also be cool for date night, if you want to come out and hear some love songs."

"We’re going to do a good mixture of old and new, and young and fresh but still respectful to the R&B music that we love, that’s created the people that we are, the artists that we are," she said. "Come have fun. Don’t get so done up that you can’t enjoy yourself."

Sounds good. So will the two spend any time on stage together?

"We’re going to keep that under wraps," said Songz with a laugh.

"Trey swore me to secrecy," said Monica. "He knows I’m the one who tends to share."